Returning with the sprawling double album 'Good God, Baad Man', Corrosion Of Conformity are once again proving why they've remained one of heavy music's most enduring bands. Back at Donington Park for another appearance at Download Festival, we caught up with guitarist Woody Weatherman to discuss the band's latest record, navigating major line-up changes, fond memories of first playing the legendary site with Metallica in 1995, and a relentless touring schedule that shows no signs of slowing down. Baad Man; Eamon O'Neill.
Photo: Danin Drahos
Hi Woody, how are you?
I'm having a blast, man. It's such a pleasure to be back in Donington. Loving it. I love it every time we come in. Today has beautiful weather, so that makes it even better.
The first band I ever saw in this field was Corrosion of Conformity,
It was actually Donington at the time [not Download Festival], 1995, and it was the Metallica Day. I know it well, and we played first at like 12.30pm or something in the morning, and everybody was already drunk and having a blast.
What are your memories from that day?
Oh man, just freaking out, you know, being in front of 80,000 people, or whatever it was that day. It was quite a number of people, and we had never done anything quite that big at the time, so it was... it was a trip. I mean, Donington, at the time was was monstrous, yeah,
You were really on the crest of a wave at that time with 'Deliverance'; what was that like for you guys? Because you'd done like four or five albums up to that point, hadn't you?
Sure. So you know, the 'Blind' [1991] album, just prior to 'Deliverance' was kind of a transition for us, and I think that caught the ear, different people, and then once the 'Deliverance' album made its little appearance, a lot of stuff changed then. And of course, Metallica had invited us, it was their day at Donington, and they had invited us, and from there, everybody knows the story. After that, we did quite a bit with those guys. It was a trip to see that world coming from where we were coming from, you know, a little more underground, and even, dare I say, a little more punk rock kind of shit.
Metallica, at that stage, were huge, but they cited Corrosion of Conformity as an influence on 'Load' and 'Reload'. Those albums have a very C.O.C flavour, haven't they?
A lot of people say that. I don't necessarily hear it, but a lot of people do comment on that,
You recently released new album 'Good God, Baad Man'; what's it like to be back with new material?
Yes, a double album. It's got this got two different LPs, We put everything into this album, and we had the best time of our lives making it. We done it completely different than how we've recorded prior C.O.C albums. It was a different world, you know? We just approached it from the standpoint of we're going to make it raw, but it's going to be real, it's going to be recorded very well, but it's going to be raunchy, raw, and we're going to have a blast. If a smile is not on our face, it's not right.
For this album, the line-up shifted because first you had Reed Mullin passing, and then Mike Dean left; you must be the only guy that's been on every album.
That's true, but a lot of times C.O.C's used to curve balls, and as Pepper and I have both said in the past, Corrosion is almost bigger than the sum of its parts. It's like we're sort of a thing, it's like a big family at this point, but Pepper and I started from scratch. You mentioned Reed, our longtime drummer passing, and Mike Dean moving on - he's doing his production work and working in the studio and stuff - but it was a challenge for Pepper and I, so we were starting over.
Something that was really exciting is that you brought back Stanton Moore on drums.
It was a no-brainer because, I mean, we're buddies with him. He's known Pepper for ages. They're both from New Orleans, and everybody knows him, so it was easy having him come back because he was already familiar with the band and he knew the stuff. Pepper and I had already demoed quite a bit of the material, just he and I. It was just guitar riffs, then once Stanton heard them and we put him on them, it made them real, then everything changed.
What's it like to be back out on the road? I know Stanton is not with you, is that correct?
Stan's not out with us. Nick Shabatura from Chicago is tearing it up. It was a recommendation from Charlie Benante [Anthrax], and he's doing awesome. Nick is phenomenal, and I mean it's amazing to be back out on the road doing it all. We're just getting started. The record's been out two or three months, and we've already been everywhere, and we're going to do it again and a third and a fourth time.
And in terms of guitars, what are you using on the road?
What I'm using now, it has a similar appearance to a Gibson SG, but they're ESPs, ones I've had for like three, four decades, three and a half decades. I'm still using those things. Keenan's all over the place. He's more of a Gibson man these days, but you know, I love my old guitars I've gotten. I can't quite seem to give them up.
What are your personal favourite C.O.C albums?
I mean, it's silly to say, but I would say other than the brand new one, which really is turning into my favourite C.O.C record, I go back to, like, the 'Animosity' [1985] album, really. But they're all good. I mean, the 'Blind' album was transitional, all the hits were on that were kind of on later albums, but the new album sort of encapsulates all those time eras of C.O.C. For someone to start, 'Good God, Baad Man', they'll get a taste of it all.
Back to Donington, and are you looking forward to playing today?
I mean, you know, that's one thing about playing these big festivals, they don't give you a lot of time, because there's so many bands, so we're going to squeeze as much we can into our thirty-five minutes that they allot us, so we'll see what we come up with. We haven't wrote the set yet, but I can sort of imagine what it'll be.
What's coming up for you next, more touring in support of the new album?
We've already been out, and we're not going home, and as soon as we get done with this European and UK run, we go back to the States for another lengthy solo trip. We're back over here in August for the other festivals, then back to the US for more stuff. There's a lot of stuff in the works that hasn't been announced yet, but a lot of things coming up.
I'm having a blast, man. It's such a pleasure to be back in Donington. Loving it. I love it every time we come in. Today has beautiful weather, so that makes it even better.
The first band I ever saw in this field was Corrosion of Conformity,
It was actually Donington at the time [not Download Festival], 1995, and it was the Metallica Day. I know it well, and we played first at like 12.30pm or something in the morning, and everybody was already drunk and having a blast.
What are your memories from that day?
Oh man, just freaking out, you know, being in front of 80,000 people, or whatever it was that day. It was quite a number of people, and we had never done anything quite that big at the time, so it was... it was a trip. I mean, Donington, at the time was was monstrous, yeah,
You were really on the crest of a wave at that time with 'Deliverance'; what was that like for you guys? Because you'd done like four or five albums up to that point, hadn't you?
Sure. So you know, the 'Blind' [1991] album, just prior to 'Deliverance' was kind of a transition for us, and I think that caught the ear, different people, and then once the 'Deliverance' album made its little appearance, a lot of stuff changed then. And of course, Metallica had invited us, it was their day at Donington, and they had invited us, and from there, everybody knows the story. After that, we did quite a bit with those guys. It was a trip to see that world coming from where we were coming from, you know, a little more underground, and even, dare I say, a little more punk rock kind of shit.
Metallica, at that stage, were huge, but they cited Corrosion of Conformity as an influence on 'Load' and 'Reload'. Those albums have a very C.O.C flavour, haven't they?
A lot of people say that. I don't necessarily hear it, but a lot of people do comment on that,
You recently released new album 'Good God, Baad Man'; what's it like to be back with new material?
Yes, a double album. It's got this got two different LPs, We put everything into this album, and we had the best time of our lives making it. We done it completely different than how we've recorded prior C.O.C albums. It was a different world, you know? We just approached it from the standpoint of we're going to make it raw, but it's going to be real, it's going to be recorded very well, but it's going to be raunchy, raw, and we're going to have a blast. If a smile is not on our face, it's not right.
For this album, the line-up shifted because first you had Reed Mullin passing, and then Mike Dean left; you must be the only guy that's been on every album.
That's true, but a lot of times C.O.C's used to curve balls, and as Pepper and I have both said in the past, Corrosion is almost bigger than the sum of its parts. It's like we're sort of a thing, it's like a big family at this point, but Pepper and I started from scratch. You mentioned Reed, our longtime drummer passing, and Mike Dean moving on - he's doing his production work and working in the studio and stuff - but it was a challenge for Pepper and I, so we were starting over.
Something that was really exciting is that you brought back Stanton Moore on drums.
It was a no-brainer because, I mean, we're buddies with him. He's known Pepper for ages. They're both from New Orleans, and everybody knows him, so it was easy having him come back because he was already familiar with the band and he knew the stuff. Pepper and I had already demoed quite a bit of the material, just he and I. It was just guitar riffs, then once Stanton heard them and we put him on them, it made them real, then everything changed.
What's it like to be back out on the road? I know Stanton is not with you, is that correct?
Stan's not out with us. Nick Shabatura from Chicago is tearing it up. It was a recommendation from Charlie Benante [Anthrax], and he's doing awesome. Nick is phenomenal, and I mean it's amazing to be back out on the road doing it all. We're just getting started. The record's been out two or three months, and we've already been everywhere, and we're going to do it again and a third and a fourth time.
And in terms of guitars, what are you using on the road?
What I'm using now, it has a similar appearance to a Gibson SG, but they're ESPs, ones I've had for like three, four decades, three and a half decades. I'm still using those things. Keenan's all over the place. He's more of a Gibson man these days, but you know, I love my old guitars I've gotten. I can't quite seem to give them up.
What are your personal favourite C.O.C albums?
I mean, it's silly to say, but I would say other than the brand new one, which really is turning into my favourite C.O.C record, I go back to, like, the 'Animosity' [1985] album, really. But they're all good. I mean, the 'Blind' album was transitional, all the hits were on that were kind of on later albums, but the new album sort of encapsulates all those time eras of C.O.C. For someone to start, 'Good God, Baad Man', they'll get a taste of it all.
Back to Donington, and are you looking forward to playing today?
I mean, you know, that's one thing about playing these big festivals, they don't give you a lot of time, because there's so many bands, so we're going to squeeze as much we can into our thirty-five minutes that they allot us, so we'll see what we come up with. We haven't wrote the set yet, but I can sort of imagine what it'll be.
What's coming up for you next, more touring in support of the new album?
We've already been out, and we're not going home, and as soon as we get done with this European and UK run, we go back to the States for another lengthy solo trip. We're back over here in August for the other festivals, then back to the US for more stuff. There's a lot of stuff in the works that hasn't been announced yet, but a lot of things coming up.
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